Food Industry: Investment Opportunities in Sudan

With rapidly rising per capita income levels and renewed corporate interest in the organized retail market, the Sudan food industry looks set for a big leap. The sector is promising to grow from an estimated size of few thousand US dollars to billion.

Sudan is endowed with a large production base for a variety of raw materials covering food crops, commercial crops and fibres due to its varied agro-climatic conditions. In fact, this has helped Sudan become the one of largest producer of a host of agricultural crops.

The availability of raw material could help Sudan become one the major contributor for the international food trade. This shows the huge potential available for both investors and exporters in this sector.
Though there are many large installations within the sector, the door is open for more investment, especially in the area of food processing. Most of Sudan's present factories are either unable to meet local demand, or they work at low productive capacity.

Government Initiatives:
The Government has introduced a number of progressive measures to set up and modernize food processing units, create infrastructure, support research and development and human resource development and above all adopted flexible rules to encourage Foreign Investment, which includes:

1. The provision of local import from the agricultural sector, as well as other sectors
2. Providing the necessary assistance and preferential regulations for operating present factories, allowing for vertical as well as horizontal development
3. Encouraging investment in medium industries, especially polyethylene packaging and glass containers
4. Encouraging rural industries to have vegetable and fruit processing in key areas of production
5. Providing back investment in infrastructures such as transport, storage and water
6. The encouragement of exports such as fodder, starch and glucose
7. Encouraging investment in the field of ferment manufacturing - the basic ingredient of molasses is presently available and exported as raw material.

Ready-to-eat food:
A growing number of nuclear families, rising household incomes, increased urbanization and a significant rise in the number of working women have led to a rise in the demand for ready-to-eat food. And with rising income levels and changing consumer tastes, this segment is likely to see rapid increase in market size.

Available investment fields within the food industry include:
• Tomato and juice concentrate production in Kassala, Abujibeiha, Khartoum and the southern states
• Vegetable and fruit canning in Kassala, Shandi, Karima, Khartoum and the southern states
• The rural production of sugar in sugarcane production areas in various states of Sudan
• Margarine production from groundnut oil in Kordufan, Darfur and Gezira
• Concentrated fodder in Nyala, New Halfa, Faw, Kassala and Obeid
• Preservation and canning of fish in Malakal, Jebal Awlia, Damazin, Halfa and PortSudan
• Production of biscuits for export in Khartoum
• Production of starch, glucose and fructose in Gadarif, Kordufan and Darfur
• Preservation and canning of meat in Kordufan, Darfur and East Nile
• Milk products in Western Sudan, Gezira and Khartoum
• Glue and gelatin in Khartoum and Gezira
• Baby food in Khartoum
• Mineral water in Khartoum
• Excretion of seeds from sesame, sunflower, cotton groundnuts etc.
• Fluor mills